Chapter 224: The Network’s Crown Jewel
Chapter 224: The Network’s Crown Jewel
Eric tidied the pile of newspapers to one side, crossed his arms on the desk, and examined the woman across from him. In this era, whether in films and television programs or in reality, women seemed to like wearing shirts very much.
Of course, Eric also liked this kind of outfit on women. It gave them a different sort of capable air. At the very least, he thought this look was much better than those women in later generations who wrapped themselves in all kinds of messy fabric. Moreover, in Eric’s view, shirts were actually a kind of uniform temptation, especially when a woman wore a loose men’s shirt, preferably with two bare long legs…
Seeing Eric staring at her without blinking, Elizabeth’s originally carefree manner quickly disappeared. She placed both arms on the desk to block her chest and glared at Eric unhappily. “Hey, what are you staring at with that lecherous look?”
“Nothing. I was just thinking, are you planning to come to work dressed like this?” Although the woman looked quite good like this, this clearly was not clothing a woman about to work should be wearing.
“Of course. I’m going to be your assistant, not an office lady. Are you expecting me to wear a suit skirt and high heels while running around the set with you?”
Eric glanced at the girl’s slightly raised chin and knew it would be useless to say more, so he lightly shook his head and stopped forcing the issue. In any case, he did not expect the girl to help him much. As long as she could pass things along and act as a messenger during filming—and most importantly, not act willfully and cause trouble—that would be enough.
“Do as you like,” Eric said, lowering his head to search through the drawer beside him.
Elizabeth seemed to have won a small victory and lightly hummed through her nose.
Eric found a document and pushed it across to Elizabeth along with a pen. “This is the contract. Sign it, and you’ll be a member of the Sleepless in Seattle crew.”
Elizabeth did not sign immediately after taking it. Instead, she began reading it seriously. Eric glanced at his watch, paid no attention, and continued reading the newspaper beside him.
After a while, while Eric was seriously reading the newspaper, the woman across from him said, “Eric, I’m done signing. What should I do next?”
Eric put the copy Elizabeth handed back into a folder and said to the girl, “You can go back now. When the crew leaves for Seattle in a few days, someone will notify you.”
“Ah…”
Elizabeth slightly opened her mouth and quickly realized Eric was not taking her seriously at all. She immediately said angrily, “How can you do that? I protest. If you don’t assign me work, I’m going to stay in your office today and refuse to leave.”
Eric cursed inwardly. If he had known this would happen, he should never have agreed to Murdoch no matter what.
Just as he was feeling a headache over how to coax this young lady away, the office door was knocked open again. Allen poked his head in and glanced around before saying, “Mr. Williams, the writers have all arrived. They’re waiting in the conference room.”
“Mm. I’ll be there now.”
Eric nodded. After Allen left, he turned to Elizabeth and said, “Liz, I really don’t have any use for you here, so just obediently go back. Someone will notify you when the time comes.”
“I’m not leaving. Since I already signed the contract, you should assign me work.”
Eric grew somewhat irritated. His right thumb rapidly rubbed the side of his index finger a few times before he pointed toward the coffee machine beside them. “Since you want to work, go make me a cup of coffee first.”
The woman immediately refused. “I’m not your servant!”
“This is part of an assistant director’s duties. If you’re unwilling, then obediently go home and wait for the crew’s notice.”
“You…”
Elizabeth unwillingly glared at Eric. A moment later, she finally stiffened her small face in grievance and carefully carried a cup of coffee over to Eric.
Eric naturally had no desire to drink coffee. Looking at Elizabeth’s stubborn appearance, he had no choice but to pick up the phone and press a few numbers. Into the receiver, he said, “Allen, reprint two copies of the confidentiality agreement you signed back then and bring them over.”
Elizabeth’s expression shifted slightly. Concealing the trace of slyness in her eyes, she lowered her head slightly and obediently stood beside him.
After a while, Allen delivered two confidentiality agreements.
“This is the confidentiality agreement Allen signed back then. It’s too long, so you don’t need to read it. As Mr. Murdoch’s daughter, I think you probably know what it contains. If you violate it, not only will you have to pay a huge penalty, you may even go to prison.
“After signing it, you can stay by my side during the filming of Sleepless in Seattle, temporarily serving as a secretary-assistant and helping Allen share some of the work.”
This time, the woman did not dawdle. She flipped through the dozen or so pages of the agreement in less than a minute and readily signed her name.
“All right, come with me. Also, at least for the next few days in Los Angeles, don’t wear this outfit again. Change into something more formal.”
“I know.”
This time, the woman did not argue again and cheerfully followed Eric toward the conference room.
At this moment, eight people sat in the conference room: six men and two women, all around their twenties or thirties.
This was the writing team Eric had specially found for the next television series.
Fox Television had already signed a preliminary letter of intent with Firefly regarding the share transfer over the past few days. The specific transaction would also be completed within this month. Therefore, before producing his final two films of the year, Eric had also begun preparing the television series and variety show he promised Murdoch.
According to the plan, the variety show would premiere in the spring season, but the variety show Eric intended to bring out was relatively simple to plan, so there was no rush to produce it.
The other television series would air in next year’s fall season. Although Eric would personally helm the project, after hearing that this American drama would have a production cost as high as two million dollars per episode, Fox still cautiously suggested adopting a film-while-airing model.
But Eric disagreed. Not only was he very confident in this American drama, but because of its subject matter, if they adopted the film-while-airing model, the rushed production would definitely affect the show’s quality.
Originally, neither side was willing to back down. Eric even declared that if Fox did not want to take the risk, Firefly could invest in and produce it alone. In that case, they could forget about splitting the copyright.
Even Barry Diller did not dare nod in agreement to that proposal. Who could guarantee this television drama would not explode in popularity like Friends?
The two sides remained deadlocked for several days before Murdoch personally made the final decision. Since Eric had such confidence, if the wealthy and powerful Fox could not even dare take this small risk, that would be ridiculous. Even if the final results were poor, it would only lose around twenty million dollars. Even this year, despite Fox Television suddenly obtaining Friends, the year-end financial report would definitely still show tens of millions of dollars in losses.
The series Eric wanted to produce was precisely the crown jewel of Fox in the 1990s from his previous life: The X-Files. In Eric’s memory, this was also practically the only American drama Fox Television could present proudly throughout the entire 1990s.
However, the ratings for the first few seasons of this American drama were not good. If not for a group of devoted fans supporting it and hyping the series online, causing its rerun ratings to exceed its premiere ratings, it probably would have been canceled after the first season.
Although the first three seasons of The X-Files had the most distinctive style, in terms of ratings, it was precisely after the style changed in the fourth and fifth seasons that it reached its ratings peak.
In Eric’s view, the main reason the ratings of the first three seasons had never risen was that the story had no main plotline. Although each episode featured a novel monster or supernatural event, this lack of a main storyline made it difficult for audiences to keep their attention on the series. It was only after the fourth season that the screenwriter, Chris Carter, connected the chaotic clues revealed in the first three seasons and began telling viewers a complete science-fiction story concept.
This science-fiction drama, The X-Files, was initially not favored by Fox at all. Although North American television networks had all tried producing science-fiction dramas, very few had succeeded.
So Eric thought perhaps the screenwriter of The X-Files, Chris Carter, known as the father of The X-Files, had not originally conceived any complete main plotline for the series himself. He probably only gradually clarified the story after years and years of writing it.
Before deciding to produce this television series, Eric had also had people look for Chris Carter, intending to let him lead the writing for this American drama. After all, many of the imaginative ideas in the previous life had been conceived by Chris Carter.
Chris Carter was not exactly unknown. He was currently working as a screenwriter under Disney. However, after the people Eric sent contacted him, Chris Carter stated that he was not interested in science-fiction American dramas and therefore was unwilling to accept the job.
This once again allowed Eric to experience the powerful force of the butterfly effect. The father of The X-Files from his previous life was actually not interested in science-fiction television dramas. It was truly… wonderful.
In the conference room, Eric pointed to the seat at the end of the table and let Elizabeth sit there herself. Then he went to the head of the table. After greeting everyone and completing introductions, Eric stood and walked toward the wall where a writing board hung.
He picked up a black marker and quickly wrote a word on the wall:
The X-Files.
“Everyone here is very skilled at writing science-fiction film and television works, so you must have realized that what I’m going to produce is also a science-fiction American drama. The name of this television drama is The X-Files.”
Under everyone’s curious gazes, Eric put down the black marker, lightly clapped his hands, and said, “Then let me first briefly introduce the background of this science-fiction drama as I envision it.”
“The story almost has to begin from the origin of life. The universe is huge, so huge it exceeds our imagination. Then within this boundless universe, infinite possibilities exist. Among the countless billions of stars, the planet capable of giving birth to intelligent life certainly cannot only be our Earth. The Bretans are the instigators of this entire story.”